An electric nostalgic album featuring some Jaden's best lyrical content. However at times it felt quite repetitive.
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CTV3: Cool Tapes Vol. 3 is a soothing ode to nostalgia and has been described as a prequel to Jaden’s 2017 album SYRE. The album is heavily influenced by The Beatles, specifically Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely-Hearts Club, as it dives into first love and loss whilst also giving us a glimpse of the birth of Jaden’s alter-ego SYRE. The album is made up of 17 tracks which are all from the perspective of 16 to 17-year-old Jaden as he is finding and sometimes losing himself in love,. The album echoes his 2014 album CTV2 with the same theme of love being spoken about but from a more educated and mature voice.
The first track is called ‘Circa 2015’ which already initiates that this is an album through which Jaden appears to be looking back upon his teenage years. The now 22-year-old is reminiscent of his first love and apologises for all the things that he has done. It’s a great opening track, especially in its music production, and shows Jaden’s musical growth especially with the use of an intense but soft violin in the background. CTV3 also features Jaden’s long-time friend Justin Bieber on the track ‘Falling For You’. It is great seeing these two collaborate and really fits in with the theme of nostalgia as Jaden’s music career was kickstarted with their collaboration on Bieber’s track ‘Never Say Never’ in 2011. ‘Falling For You’ is bluesy and has some of Jaden’s best lyrical content, with Jaden even making a pun in the chorus “I think I’m falling for you, if you don’t call me, I’ll jump off the roof”. Jaden uses the word falling literally not just figuratively highlighting the lyrical genius he has become famous for.
The Beatles’ influence on this album can be seen almost immediately especially in the track ‘LUCY!’ which is inspired by The Beatles song ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, with Jaden even going as far as to reference the track through the line “looking for my diamond”. The name also represents LSD which can mean the literal drug or the sensation the girl has on his mind. In ‘Deep End’ we also see another pointer to The Beatles, as Jaden says the name “Michelle” which echoes The Beatles track ‘Michelle’. Jaden has described Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely-Hearts Club as his favorite album of all time and through the constant hints of The Beatles, we begin to see that this was the soundtrack of the era he is reminiscing about.
As mentioned previously this album follows Jaden’s journey to finding his alter-ego SYRE, this is most seen in the track ‘The Birth of Syre’, where Jaden gives his fans the origin of this character that he brought to life in 2017. It is the second from last song on the album which proves that the whole album is a story that helps to construct his alter-ego’s creation.
Jaden bares his soul on this album and pours out his former insecurities throughout, however, the album at times felt quite repetitive. It’s a great album and we finally see a side of Jaden we haven’t before, it is a huge growth from his first Cool Tape back in 2012.
Listen to CTV3: Cool Tapes Vol. 3 via MSFTSMusic.
